[Simultaneous Determination of Three Kinds of Effective Constituents in Cannabis Plants by Reversed-phase HPLC].

OBJECTIVES

To establish a high performance liquid chromatographic （HPLC） method for simultaneous determination of three effective constituents, including tetrahydrocannabinol （THC）, cannabidiol （CBD） and cannabinol （CBN） in Cannabis plants.

METHODS

A C₁₈ column was used in this study, and acetonitrile-phosphate buffer （0.015 mol/L KH₂PO₄） was used as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. At a detection wavelength of 220 mm, UV absorption spectra were collected at the wavelength range of 190-400 nm, and the spectra and retention time were counted as qualitative evidence.

RESULTS

THC, CBD and CBN could be well separated by this method. Three components had good linear relationship in the range of 0.4-40 μg/mL （²≥0.999 3）. The recoveries were over 87%. The limits of detection were 1.8 ng, 2.0 ng and 1.3 ng, respectively. The relative standard deviation （RSD） were less than 5% for both inter-day and intra-day precisions.

CONCLUSIONS

Reversed-phase HPLC method is simple, rapid and accurate, and it is suitable for the qualitative and quantitative detection of THC, CBD and CBN in plants.